


sleep is for the weak, or so they claim

by violetinfidel



Series: comfort fics [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: "youll kys at this rate", (this actually isnt that good i wrote it in half an hour at 10pm but i wanted to post it anyway), Other, and i have to write this so i can prove to myself not to be a stupid shit and just sleep, another comfort fic! guess it's a series now, anyway enjoy this its twice as long as the last one, even so, if that upsets you dont read i suppose, its green scolding him for being a dumb idiot, its teen+ only bc green says a few tiny curse words, just tying them together bc theyre all vent/comfort stuff, so nothing like actually graphic or emotional, the subject of this is a Constant Mood, theres a brief mention of suicide but its literally just a passing, they arent necessarily chronological, this ones vio being an idiot that doesnt know what self care is because its a mood, yall profit off my sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 02:04:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14154297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetinfidel/pseuds/violetinfidel
Summary: in which vio gets so absorbed in a project that he forgets that he has a physical self with physical needs. or rather, he doesn't forget, he just ignores it in favor of getting things done. and green catches on (a few days late, but my man got the spirit) and scolds him and makes him go to bed.





	sleep is for the weak, or so they claim

Just another half an hour, he thinks, and he’ll definitely get up and at least have a stretch.

He knows in his rational brain that there is a significant flaw in that plan, which, namely, is that he’s been telling himself he’ll do this for the past six hours. It’s an especially bad thing considering it’s well past midnight.

He  _ should _ go to bed. That’s the best option he has, if he’s keeping his own well-being in mind; he’s been pulling all-nighters like this for nearly a week now, and it’s starting to really wear on him.

He should also go eat something. He’s hungry, and he’s been hungry for hours, but he’s been trying to ignore it because he’s  _ busy _ and if he can just reach a stopping point then he can go down to the kitchens and get something. The kitchens, however, are cold and closed at this hour, and he doesn’t think anyone will take very kindly to him making a racket trying to cook at three in the morning.

In the morning he’ll have a good breakfast, he promises himself (a promise he knows he’ll break), pours a little more oil in his lantern and goes back to his books.

Morning finds him still there, sitting at his desk among the papers and the books, and the lantern’s burned itself out and he’s asleep facedown, dangerously close to an ink puddle.

Someone stomping down the hall wakes him, and he manages to blink himself awake just barely in time to look sort of presentable by the time the door opens.

Blue doesn’t bother looking into anything much, and Vio isn’t sure whether it’s a blessing or a curse, but at this particular moment he appreciates it.

“Breakfast,” He says, “Green said to come get you. We’ve got double today, remember.”

No, he didn’t, and what a joy  _ this _ is going to be. “I know,” He says, pretending he’d been two steps ahead the whole time, “I won’t be spending the second with you, though.”

He seems a little irritated by that. “Oh, really? Got off it again?”

“No. Just catching up with the archer company again. It’s been a while.”

“Well, be on time or Artura’s gonna kill us.”

He’s honestly kind of surprised that he’s managing coherence right now, but he won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, so he changes into a less wrinkled tunic and tries to look like he’s not about to fall asleep and goes to join them.

The first thing he registers upon entering the dining hall is how  _ loud _ it is. It’s loud and it’s a lot, and he isn’t sure that he’s equipped to deal with it in his current state (sleep deprivation is the term that he refuses to use). He doesn’t really have a choice, though, because Green’s calling him over and as if that wasn’t enough, Red’s coming over to force him to sit.

There’s a plate already set out for him- Green pushes it over, mentions something about making it for him- and he takes it, puts on his umpteenth act of the morning and pretends he isn’t starving and paces himself (a difficult task, but a necessary one, if he’s going to keep it down). They’ve got some sort of conversation going, about something, but he can’t really hold onto it, and he doesn’t bother trying. He’s got snippets of sentences from three tables away in his head and it’s really making him want to get up and leave or put his head down or find something else to focus on- but none of those are options, so he tries his best to clear his head or at least to quiet it a little.

“-okay?”

He’s got no clue what came before that, but he gets the feeling it was something directed at him. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“I said, are you okay?” It’s Green asking, of course it is. “You look spaced out.”

“I’m fine,” He says, managing somehow to not even sound convincing to himself. “A little tired. That’s all.”

“A little,” Green repeats, derisively. 

Vio’s always been good at lying, a little dirty secret of his, but he knows that right now he’s about as capable of fooling someone as Green is capable of reading a map correctly. Which is to say, to put it nicely, that the chances are slim to none.

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

“I don’t know,” He says, an honest answer, because he couldn’t begin to guess. Less than three hours, though, that’s for certain. Not enough to be running on.

“When did you go to bed?” Green is giving him the look, the look that means that he wants the truth and he wants it now.

“I don’t know. Four. Five. I lost track.”

Vio can’t quite read the expression Green makes at that. “Vio,” He says, like he’s trying not to be frustrated, “You’ve been doing this for almost a week now.”

“I’m busy. And it’s important.”

He looks skeptical. “I don’t think it’s important enough to keep you up all night every night for this long.”

“Zelda asked me to do it. Research. For better defenses for the castle, since we’re rebuilding.”

“Well, I doubt you’re gonna make much progress when you’re this exhausted. Look at you, you’re falling asleep at the table! You’re gonna pass out halfway through training today.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“No, you won’t be. You’ve done this before. Haven’t you learned anything from last time?”

“I learned that my absolute limit was a week and a half, which I haven’t reached yet.”

“Okay, well, you learned the wrong lesson, apparently,” Green says, and sighs. “Vio, for Hylia’s sake, get some sleep.”

“Tonight,” He says, relieved that he won’t have to keep himself engaged anymore, and more privately relieved that he has an excuse to just call it a night early. He knows he can’t break a promise to any of them, but especially not to Green, because even if Green can’t force him to keep it he’ll still never hear the end of it.

“No, not  _ tonight _ , now.”

Vio’s too tired to be surprised. “We have training.”

“You’re gonna have to put that on hold. I wouldn’t trust you with a stick with the condition you’re in. I won’t have you with a sword.”

“Well, mother-”

“Don’t you start that with me.”

“I’ve been perfectly fine the rest of the week.”

“You haven’t been clocking out in the middle of breakfast the rest of the week.”

“I’ve been feeling about the same the rest of the week,” Says Vio, in his fatigue momentarily forgetting the meaning of the word prudence, “And nothing has happened.”

“See, now I know you’re too exhausted to be doing anything, ‘cause if you’d been even remotely in your right mind then you wouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m an expert at this.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

Blue is following the entire conversation, looking as though he’d love to somehow record it to watch over again, and Green throws a dirty napkin at him and tells him to mind his own business, and it quickly escalates into an argument over why  _ Vio _ gets to skip out on the day’s work but  _ he _ and  _ everyone else _ still has to go and pull their weight, and Vio is very relieved to fall asleep somewhere in the middle of it.

When Green shakes him awake- and, according to Green, it takes several minutes to accomplish this- most everyone else has left, and it’s only the four of them and a few of the cooks and a stray recruit.

“Go to the yard,” Green is saying, ostensibly to Blue and Red, “I’ll meet you guys there in a minute. And you,” He says, turns to Vio and practically drags him up by his collar, “Are going to get some actual sleep.”

“M’fine here,” He says, not really at all awake and wishing they’d just left him at the table.

“No, you’re not, you’re going to your room before you pass out again.”

“I didn’t pass out.”

“You were damn near it.”

“Did  _ Green _ ,” Vio says, slowly, “Did Green just  _ curse _ at me?”

“Oh, shut it.”

“Not only is he cursing, but he’s cursing  _ at _ me.”

“First of all that isn’t even a curse, and don’t you argue with me on that. And second, I won’t have to curse at you if you just take care of your damn self.”

“I do-”

“No you don’t. Not half the time.”

“Well, the other half-”

“I don’t really care about the other half right now, I care about the half that makes you not eat or sleep for a week ‘cause you’re too absorbed in whatever project you’ve got. I’m tempted to ask Zelda to stop putting you on these things ‘cause  _ this _ is what happens every time she does.”

“I’m productive.”

Green snorts. “To a fault.”

“Name one other person as efficient as I am.”

“Name one other person who ignores themselves for a week because of some stupid work.”

“Well, I’m offended now. It isn’t stupid.”

“You know what I mean.”

Green holds the door for him, and herds him into bed, like he’s some sort of invalid, which he kind of resents.

“You have a bag in here?”

“Closet, second shelf on the right.”

“Great.”

He may not have the best self-care habits, but if there’s one thing he does have it’s a very organized closet, and Green gets the bag out no problem, and promptly goes over to his desk and starts shoving everything in it.

It takes Vio a minute to process, and then he goes and tries to take the bag from Green and is met with very staunch resistance.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?”

“Taking this until you’ve rested.”

“I had a system.”

“You can get back to your system once you’re better.”

“I’m not sick.”

Green flicks him on the back of the head and shoulders the bag. “Go to sleep. I mean it.”

“What’s to stop me from just leaving my room? There are copies of those in the library.”

“For the love of Hylia,” Green says, gracelessly drops the bag and drags the chair in front of the door and sits in it. “I’ll babysit you if I have to. Go the hell to bed, Vio. I’m not kidding.”

On principle, he’d like to make some sort of argument, but he can’t think of anything good and, really, he doesn’t want to. Sleep sounds pretty good. Green at least seems satisfied that he isn’t putting up much of a resistance, though it isn’t until he’s safely under the covers that he seems to ease up.

“I don’t mean to be harsh with you.”

“...I know.”

“But you can’t keep doing this. You’ll kill yourself.”

“Well-”

“No,” Green says, before he can even start, “No. I know the kind of thing you’re going to say, and just don’t, okay? You’re shit at taking care of yourself and you need to fix that, and if you won’t then I will. End of story.”

“Green-”

“Vio.”

“You don’t even know where I was going with that.”

“...What?”

“I appreciate it.”

“It’s not a problem,” Green says, with a tiny, tiny smile, “But this doesn’t make me not mad at you.”

“It was worth a try.”


End file.
